What Has Changed America?

September 9, 2013

The U.S. is not what it used to be: the undisputed leader among nations, land of opportunity, a country where children look to a brighter future and lifestyle than their parents, assurance of a good, affordable education and pride in being an American.

What has changed to create a fearsome present and a highly questionable future with continued high unemployment, underemployment, crumbling infrastructure, high national debt, a confused health care system, an unclear energy policy, defense contracts that seemingly always exceed budgets, looming, unfunded entitlement obligations, high poverty levels, etc.?

There are several reasons –the prescription drug plan (a good thing, but is it funded?), the recent recession, an outdated tax code and growing federal deficit. We continue to spend more money than we take in. Is Detroit the nation’s future?

It is not unreasonable to expect the U.S. will suffer much more severe economic and social problems unless we make some tough decisions. Those decisions must be made by elected officials in Washington, the empire where contributions, lobbyists and unions appear to control every vote. While we do have some good men and women doing their best to represent the will of the people, how many look in the mirror each morning and say, “Today I’m going to do what’s right for America, I will not continue to kick the can down the road!”